Ron Barber, an aide to former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was wounded in the shooting attack that forced her resignation from Congress, announced his candidacy today for the special election to finish the congresswoman’s term.

Matt Salmon has won the endorsement of the entire Arizona Senate Republican leadership team and a majority of the Senate’s GOP caucus, even though his opponent was serving at the Legislature with them less than a year ago.

Multiple sources say that Giffords’ advisors held a conference call this afternoon to discuss what role she would play in the special election to replace her, and one source with knowledge of the conversation said Giffords is prepared to throw her support behind longtime aide Ron Barber to fill out her term.

This year marks 10 years since Arizona tribes signed new gaming compacts with the state of Arizona. These compacts provide an avenue for tribes to share gaming revenues with all Arizonans. As of September 2011, tribes have contributed more than $640 million to benefit education, trauma and emergency care, wildlife conservation and business development through tourism. These are real, hard dollars that have flowed to the state in good times and bad. In addition, tribal contributions fully fund the Arizona Department of Gaming, which is one of three entities that regulate tribal gaming, along with funding programs that work to prevent problem gambling.

Andrei Cherny, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, is stepping down from his position in order to take on a “new and different task.”

He didn’t mention it in the letter he sent out today, but Cherny is expected to soon announce he is running for Congress in the new 9th Congressional District, which includes parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa.